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Monday, 6 January 2014

The Army has
contacted the family of ailing Munni Devi, wife of martyr rifleman Mahipal
Singh, and assured it of getting her kidney treated. On December 22, The
Tribune had reported the plight of Devi’s brother Harinder Singh, who had spent
all his savings in his sister’s treatment and was now running from pillar to
post for further help.

Taking cognisance
of the report, Col CJS Khera (retd), General Secretary of the Ex-Servicemen
Joint Action Front (Sanjha Morcha), approached the Army headquarters and
authorities of the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), a central
organisation.

The Army
headquarters has directed the ECHS to provide all possible help to Devi, who is
suffering from chronic kidney ailment and has been advised kidney transplant.

Meanwhile, Devi
has been shifted to Himalayan Hospital, Jolly Grant, from Indresh Hospital on
the recommendations of Dehradun Military Hospital.

“Officers from the army
headquarters have contacted me and now my sister has been shifted to Himalayan
Hospital in Jolly Grant on the recommendations of doctors at the Dehradun
military hospital. Devi’s treatment was started on Saturday,” Singh told The
Tribune.

:India's biggest ship, aircraft Carrier INS
Vikramaditya, which was acquired from Russia in November, has finally arrived
in the Indian Navy's Area of Operation in the Arabian Sea after a long voyage.(See pics)

The much-awaited
$2.3 billion ship is being escorted by other ships of India's western fleet and
is headed to the Indian Navy's base at Karwar on the western coast. As the big
ship entered the Indian Navy's area of operation in north western Arabian Sea,
it had for the first time, the older and smaller aircraft carrier, INS Viraat,
alongside it on Saturday. Throughout its long journey INS Vikramaditya has been
accompanied by INS Trikand, a Talwar class frigate, INS Delhi, a Delhi class
destroyer, and INS Deepak, the fleet tanker.

Fleet commander of
the Western Fleet, Rear Admiral Anil Chawla, led the flotilla of the Western
Fleet, that also comprised INS Viraat, besides two Delhi class destroyers,
three Trishul class stealth frigates, a Godavari class frigate and a couple of
offshore vessels.

INS Vikramaditya,
which was commissioned into the Indian Navy on November 16 at the Sevmash
shipyard in North Russia' Severodvinsk, is scheduled to reach its home port at
Karwar in Karnatakain a week. The aircraft carrier is then expected to begin its
weapons and air fleet integration. The air wing consists of 30 MiG 29K aircraft
and six Kamov helicopters.

The MiG 29Ks would
provide a significant boost to Indian Navy with their range of over 700
nautical miles, extendable to over 1,900 nautical miles with mid-air
refuelling, and an array of weapons like anti-ship missiles, beyond visual
range air-to-air missiles and guided bombs and rockets.

INS Vikramaditya
is 284 metres long and 60 metres high - that's about as high as a 20-storeyed
building. The ship weighs 40,000 tonnes and will be the biggest and heaviest
ship to be operated by the Indian Navy.

The warship can
sail nearly 1300 kilometres a day and can operate for 45 days without
replenishment. It will be manned by about 1600 people. Just the crew is
expected to use over one lakh eggs, 200,000 litres of milk and over 16 tonnes
of rice every month.

INS Vikramaditya
is a Kiev class aircraft carrier which was commissioned by Russian Navy in 1987
under the name Baku. It was later renamed as Admiral Gorshkov and last sailed
in 1995 in Russia, before being offered to India. India agreed to buy it in 2004
for $974 million. The cost kept shooting up as Russia delayed the delivery by
over five years.

India is also
building its first indigenous aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, in Kochi,
which is expected to join the navy in 2018-19.

New Delhi: Around
20 Chinese soldiers last week entered Indian territory near the LAC and pitched
their tents in Chepzi area in Ladakh, sources said on Sunday.

Around 20-22
Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers had last week pitched around
8-10 tents in the west of Chepzi in Ladakh area, the sources said.

However, the Army
headquarters insisted there was no such incident in that area.

It was not
immediately known whether the Chinese troops still remained in the Indian
territory or have left.

The Army had held
a flag meeting with the Chinese side yesterday.

Chepzi is close to
Chumar area, which has been witness to a large number of incursions by the
Chinese side in the last one year.

In April, Chinese
troops had entered 19 km inside Indian territory in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector
and left the place only after long negotiations and a series of flag meetings
between the two sides.

The reports about
the Chinese camp in the area have come soon after PLA troops apprehended five
Indian nationals in the Chumar area and took them to their camp across the Line
of Actual Control (LAC) in an apparent bid to stake their claim on the area.

After the two
countries signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) in Beijing,
they have agreed to resolve their issues under the mechanisms provided by the
new pact aiming to prevent flare-ups between their troops.

Defence Minister
AK Antony had recently warned that the new border pact does not guarantee that
nothing will happen in these areas in future.

Chumar has been
one of the most active areas on the LAC in terms of transgressions by the
Chinese troops.

Located 300 km
from Leh, it has always been an area of discomfort for the Chinese troops as
this is the only place along the Sino-Indian border where they do not have any
direct access to the LAC.

The guns on the
Line of Control (LoC) have fallen silent for the time being, thanks to the
DGMO-level talks between India and Pakistan.

But the Army is
still on the edge, given that 2013 was one of the bloodiest in recent times
with more soldiers killed than the previous two years put together.

With elections due
in Jammu and Kashmir this year, violence is expected to go up, according to an
assessment by the Army. The situation cannot be compared to what it was in the
early 1990s, when militancy was at its peak, but now the attacks on the
security forces have become bolder and more intense. The militants have
outgrown their earlier strategy of throwing grenades and running away.

These days they
are organising well-planned attacks on the armed forces with an aim to inflict
maximum damage. The tactic is to attack and then merge with the population.

With the Assembly
elections due in 2014, Pakistan will make every effort, like in the past, to
subvert the democratic process in the state. The Indian Army is clear that the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act cannot be lifted from parts of the state at
least till the fallout of the US withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan can be
assessed.

The security
establishment is convinced that the withdrawal of US forces can unleash a fresh
wave of militancy in the Valley. ACTS of terror has not come down, said
sources, even though infiltration might be down.

The Army's
assessment is that at least 400 militants are still operating all across Jammu
and Kashmir from the north to the south of the Pir Panjal. The arch of
militancy is spreading and this is a cause of concern for the security
establishment. The militants are not only better trained but also equipped with
good quality radio sets and night vision devices ensuring that darkness is no
more a hindrance in crossing over the border.

With better radio
equipment, their handlers back in Pakistan also guide the operations right till
the last word. Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh, in a recent interview to
defence ministry's inhouse journal Sainik Samachar, had said that any let up at
this stage is likely to be exploited by terrorists and other inimical elements
to their advantage.

He also said that
it is strategically imperative that India waits and watches the developments in
Afghanistan post the US drawdown in 2014.

In 2011, 35
militants and 33 security personnel were killed while in 2012, 13 militants
were killed on the LoC as against 15 security personnel. But in 2013, 53
securitymen died and only 33 militants were eliminated, putting the Indian Army
on tenterhooks.

Coordinated
intelligence and intelligence sharing are the biggest lessons learnt from
26-11, said Brigadier Pawan Bajaj, the commander of the Aundh-based Shivneri
Brigade. Bajaj was speaking on the sidelines of a media visit to the Aundh
military station. He also elaborated on the Army's efforts towards
modernisation and training advancements that follow alongside modernisation.

Bajaj, in his
briefing, highlighted the role of the Indian Army and its contribution towards
nation building. He also focused on the Indian Army's operational preparedness
and contribution in providing relief and succour to citizens during natural
disasters like tsunami, earthquakes and floods.

Under the aegis of
the Southern Command, a visit for 150 schoolchildren and approximately 150 NCC
Cadets to the Shivneri Brigade at Aundh Military Station was also organised on
Saturday. "The visit was organised with an aim to provide them an overview
of the various facets of military life at Pune. The visit gave the attendees an
excellent exposure to various training facilities of the military, including a
weapon display and a visit to a Maratha Battalion and culminated in a
demonstration on various training and battle drills," said a press release
issued by Press information Bureau, Defence Wing.

The interactions
were followed by training demonstrations by the army men followed by an
overview of the various activities and camps organised by the brigade.